Indiana Stepping It Up to Support Women-Owned Businesses

There are 162,000 women-owned businesses in the state of Indiana, which is about 30 percent of all privately-owned businesses in the state. The support of state and local programs is important to women-owned businesses because about 90 percent of them have no other employees than themselves. Indiana offers many such programs but feels they can do even more to support women-owned businesses.

How Indiana is stepping it up

Here are just some of the programs available in Indiana to help women who own their own businesses:

WomenIN Initiative - supports women in entrepreneurship throughout the state of Indiana. Help includes resources, space, connection to funding, and a network to increase the future growth of women entrepreneurs.

Indiana Small Business Development Center - shares information on where to find grant money, local lending options, classroom type workshops, online training, and how to register and increase business through exporting.

21st Century Research and Technology Fund - supports economic development in the state of Indiana through grants and awards designed to increase ground-breaking technologies in the life sciences or health care fields in the state. They specialize in start-up and small businesses as well as early stage companies.

Other local networking events for small business owners welcome the participation from female business owners. Elaine Bedel, president of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, feels more can be done in "increasing awareness about local and state programs available to support small businesses," including those owned by women. She also wants to look into offering more tax incentives to small businesses, like those that are currently offered to larger corporations.

Read more at www.jconline.com/story/money/business/2017/03/20/state-local-programs-support-women-owned-businesses/99406174/